Surprise! POLL! Yeah, we just thought we'd drop in! - ILM Artist Poll #93 - The B-52’s (vote until November 10, 2018)

Bouncing Off the Satellites has been my favorite album of theirs ever since I took my car in to the dealership for some repairs and when I picked it up, a cassette of Bouncing Off the Satellites was in the tape player. I assumed it was my sister's, but... it was not! Listened to it for months in the car.

Bouncing sounds much more alive in the midst of death than Whammy.

I have never forgiven Whammy for my experience of buying it new with great anticipation and then realizing it was not very good

also wanna give a shoutout to "Channel Z" here

wanna give a shout out to whichever posted said he got a jolt whenever Schneider shouted SURPRISE when and his partner were going at it on the couch.

hahahaha, missed that

I also want to put forth the theory that the versions on Party Mix >>> the LP versions

SUR-PRIIIIIIIZE

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:37 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^that's one of my all-time favorite album openings.

― how's life, Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:44 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I used to date a big B-52's fan who had a bunch of their albums running in her CD changer, and this intro had a knack for popping up awkwardly during intimate moments.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, September 26, 2018 10:19 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and then...

I used to date a big B-52's fan who had a bunch of their albums running in her CD changer, and this intro had a knack for popping up awkwardly during intimate moments.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles),

I imagine Schneider breaking through the door like the Kool-Aid guy, holding a dead cat.

― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, September 27, 2018 5:41 AM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

forgot my response

This description runs through my mind often:

Favorite moment: just a few seconds into "Party Out of Bounds" when Fred yells "SU-PRIIIIISE!" like a drunk Charles Nelson Reily violating Paul Lynn at a toga party. Classic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, July 8, 2003 3:41 PM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What can you do to save a party?

one of my unfulfilled life goals is to learn how to play Queen of the Nile

XP

https://i.gifer.com/R3C6.gif

one time somehow blount and i were riffing on the idea of having schneider rather than kate & cindy appear on "Me In Honey." What it's DOIN' to ME!!! this in turn led us to imagining him replacing thurston moore on "crush with eyeliner" - I'm the REEEEAL thing! and then finally to realize that he would have been welcome as the replacement for any guest vocalist on any album, so long as his verse opened with an unrestrained SUR-PRIIIIIIZE!

the classic b-52s formula has so long been a part of my listening brain that it's easy for me to forget what a truly bizarre and wonderful queer construction it is, both the thrift-store early 60s camp john waters aesthetic packaging, and the sound on record: early, prescient new wave, leaning into the surf guitar over other 60s influences, fine enough, but then to add these heavenly but kinda flat and strange harmonies, and over top of it, as your seeming lead singer, an outrageously proud and self-delighting paul lynde character, absolutely reveling in a vocal display that i have to imagine put him in serious danger in athens, GA in the late 70s. it's so rad and unlikely, and they became huge on it!

(people who write and think about camp aesthetics probably have much more sophisticated and precise ways of describing this i'm sure. it's just awesome in a musical sense to me. they sound like nothing else at all.)

I have never forgiven Whammy for my experience of buying it new with great anticipation and then realizing it was not very good

I have never forgiven David Byrne for making such a mess of album three that the band fired their friend, scrapped his lifeless mixes and had to cobble together what could have been a pretty interesting album.

yeah i sorta forget, even as i'm listening to it, to think of mesopotamia as in any way a "third album" rather than one of a couple of inessential EP type projects

so is the version on Party Mix Byrne's or the band's re-mix?

whichever is more common, there's some part of an old B52s thread where Donut breaks down the differences and where the alt mixes were released (Holland iirc)

If "Loveland" is 8:35 and "Cake" is 7:46, those are the Byrne mixes. "Throw That eat..." is a bit longer too. The first two are noticeably different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCCtPgEmUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f8gtfHYSs8

I think Byrne mixes were only released in Europe. They are generally longer and more plodding.

so is the version on Party Mix Byrne's or the band's re-mix

the latter

the Byrne mix of Queen of Las Vegas makes my point entirely.

I don't think Byrne was a particularly good match tbh

should've gotten tom tom club imho, or done a joint album or stb

I should probably have found room for "Is That You Mo-Dean?" That "as-tral proj-ec-tor" coda is curiously affecting today.

I did 18/20 from memory, now time for some catchup listening

Voted!

Nice to see some love for Bouncing Off The Satellites on this thread. It's definitely their most underrated album. Ain't It A Shame is the one I come back to the most. It's such a devastating song, especially the way Cindy sings, "you look at that colour TV, more than me".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUF5mrKUOVA

Voted!

Voted!

(voted)

Every time I see this thread I think it's a "Surprise! YOU'RE POLL!" Faith No More poll.

I'm glad I waited until the last minute (when I have a free day for listening) because I had forgotten how awesome "Bushfire" is

ranking stuff from Cosmic Thing was pretty difficult, the songs play off each other, unlike the early stuff that is more about amazing singles

i didn't vote because i only know the first two albums + cosmic thing, but just want to express eternal gratitude for teaching me that the only thing you should do when you hear a cowbell is pretend to hit your own head

honestly i'm down to 22 songs and at this point only 2 aren't from the debut, wild planet, or cosmic thing... there's enough there for a ballot!

yup

ok, i'm gonna submit a last minute ballot. taking this opportunity to listen to give Whammy! a decent listen and it's certainly off to a great start(!)

i have a real soft spot in my heart for the kind of synth bass on "legal tender", it's like the opposite of kryptonite for me

ok, i put together a quick 15-song ballot. it's always so wonderful to discover vital tracks while putting together these ballots. for me that was the song "Mesopotamia" - i didn't even know the EP existed, the backstory with Byrne, anything. "Mesopotamia" is a sick song, and I liked "Cake", too.

Hello everyone, this is being postponed. As you probably have seen I have not been around lately and the reason why i have been absent from this thread. Hell, I even missed this years World Series, loved the results. Anyways, my family has suffered some health issues including spending more time at the hospital. I just can’t run this poll right now. In fact if anyone wants to take over running this, that might actually be preferred, email the box and I can hand over the keys. Since some have asked for an extension anyways, you got it. Thanks for understanding

Voting is still open!

hey Bee, i'm really sorry to hear that.

i'd be happy to tabulate the results and post the results, along with images. although if you or others would prefer a bigger B-52s fan to do it, i understand. but i'm here to help.

Oh, jeez, Bee, I'm sorry. Sending out good vibes to you and yours.

hope things are ok.

Hope everything is all right, Bee!

Thanks everyone for your concern, everything is okay. it was mainly my dad but my mom has some issues as well...

we will figure this poll out but until then...

VOTING IS STILL OPEN

yay! y'all, this is amazing.

https://youtu.be/05yCpVbpiQc?t=494

so good